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Slow response to 911 call results in Springbank home robbery

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CALGARY -

A British Columbia vacation was abruptly halted for Dallas and Mark Rhodenizer. They were in the middle of a two week holiday when they received a text message from their Springbank neighbour saying their garage door was open.

"So we went on (to view our security video system) and we watched two people break into our house and clean out boxes over and over again so we got on the phone with 911," said Dallas.

But calling from B.C. about an Alberta emergency proved to be a challenge for the couple. The 911 dispatcher had a hard time figuring out where Springbank was and who to forward the emergency call to. That resulted in about a seven minute delay of notifying the RCMP of the break and enter.

"We were passed around and then put on hold," said Mark. "I think that time lapse is what cost us our stuff because the RCMP or police could've been here much faster if the response time was quicker (by dispatch)."

RETURN VISIT

Shaken from the ordeal, Mark woke early the next morning and checked the home security feed on his smart phone only to see the thieves had returned. The same people in the same truck taking more items from the home. The couple quickly called 911 again.

"I said they are there right now," said Dallas. "RCMP got here five minute after they left our house so they cleaned out all of our lawn equipment, they cleaned out all of our snowmobile equipment, yah they did a number that time too."

The two couldn't get home from B.C. immediately because the highways were closed so they had to wait until July 29th to return and survey the damage. They took a longer look at the surveillance footage and were surprised at what they saw.

"It was scary because it look like one of the individuals first walked around the property with a rifle," said Mark. "Now if my family was home and this is happening and they gained entry then what happens, do they take lives or is it just for a scare tactic?don't know and I don't want to know."

Now the couple are taking stock of what's missing and dealing with insurance. Their security company is back at the house finishing up installation of more cameras on the property.

The couple say their home renovation brought many contractors to the property and it was likely hard for the neighbours to know who was supposed to be there and who wasn't.

Much of what was taken is replaceable, but not everything.

"They stole my grandmother's ring my grandfather had given her that I wore my wedding day," said Dallas. "They stole my laptop which had my first born, all of his new born pictures which of course I haven't backed up so that to me just really really hits me right in the heart."

The couple is using social media to spread the word of their theft and looking for goods stolen from their home on various buy/sell sites.

If you have any information about the theft you're asked to contact Crime Stoppers. https://calgarycrimestoppers.org/

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